Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus)
About the Hen Harrier
The hen harrier (Circus cyaneus) is a bird of prey. It breeds in open areas such as marshes and grasslands in Eurasia and is migratory, moving further south outside of the breeding season. Birds in milder regions, such as France and Great Britain, may be resident year-round, but the higher altitudes are largely deserted in winter. The species is sexually dimorphic; males are smaller and mostly grey and white with black wingtips, whereas females average larger and are predominantly brown and have buff underparts with brown barring. Both sexes have a white rump patch, although it is more noticeable on females and juveniles. The term "hen harrier" refers to its former habit of preying on free-ranging fowl. The northern harrier (Circus hudsonius) was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the hen harrier.
A real field recording of the Hen Harrier. Press play and focus on the rhythm and pitch of each phrase.
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Our streaming copies are mirrored from the original xeno-canto file and transcoded to 96 kbps mono — a modification, so we note it here; the licence for each recording is named in its credit below.
1 recording on this page · licensed CC BY-SA ×1 · mirrored on this server, free for commercial reuse · recorded in China, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland and elsewhere · xeno-canto lists 61 recordings for this species in total.
Similar species
- African Marsh HarrierCircus ranivorusprofile
- Black HarrierCircus maurusprofile
- Cinereous HarrierCircus cinereusprofile
- Eastern Marsh HarrierCircus spilonotusrecording
- Long-winged HarrierCircus buffoniprofile
- Malagasy HarrierCircus macroscelesprofile
Species grouped by shared genus, family and range.